Hey Mr President
by phoebenpiper
Summary: This is a fanfic based on JONAS, the tv show. It's Student Council election time at Horace Mantis Academy, and, with the Lucas brothers involved, things are bound to get silly. Final chapter EDITED to fix the stupid block text on 09/15/09.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, Mr. President**

_A JONAS fanfic by phoebenpiper_

- - -

As the Lucas brothers walked into school Wednesday morning, they were confronted by a huge banner suspended across the hallway:

"Do you care about Horace Mantis Academy? Do you want to make a difference, to make things better for your fellow students? Then sign up now to run for Student Council."

"Student Council?" Joe scoffed. "What kind of NERD would want to run for that?"

Glaring at his brother, Nick cleared his throat and gestured to the sign hanging directly below the banner:

"Vote for Nick Lucas, Student Council President."

"Ohhhhhhhh," Kevin exclaimed, catching on. "THAT kind of nerd."

Joe shook his head. "Nick, you can't be serious."

Nick looked at his brother meaningfully. "When am I ever NOT serious?"

"Good point," Kevin agreed. Turning to Joe, he pointed out, "He has a point."

"And so do I," Joe said. "Why on earth would you want to run, Nick? Only NERDS run for Student Council."

Kevin looked thoughtful as he replied, "I think you just answered your own question, bro."

Nick glared at Kevin before responding to Joe's question. "Because I care about Horace Mantis Academy. Because I want to make a difference, to make things better for my fellow students."

"Why does that sound so familiar?" Kevin asked, staring blankly up at the recruiting poster.

"Think about it, guys," Nick continued. "My nickname is 'Mr. President' – don't you think it's about time I fulfilled that destiny?"

Before his brothers could answer, they were suddenly joined by a pretty blonde girl.

"Hey, Nick," she said. "So what do you think of the campaign poster I made?"

Nick smiled goofily. "It looks great, Jessie."

"And we're still on for this afternoon, right?"

"Absolutely." Nick nodded. "Another three or four hours of brainstorming and I'm sure we'll come up with the perfect campaign slogan."

"I hope so," Jessie giggled. "See you later, Nick."

"Yeah, see ya," Nick said dreamily as the girl walked away down the hall.

During this exchange, Joe and Kevin had been looking back and forth between Nick and the girl like they were watching a ping pong match. But now that Jessie was gone, Joe leveled his glare directly at his younger brother.

"You're not doing this for the school," he accused. "You're doing this for HER!"

"That's not true," Nick said, his sappy grin once again replaced by his trademark serious expression. "I CARE about the student body." Nick suddenly got that dreamy look in his eye again as he added, "Especially Jessie's student body."

"Nick!" Joe said, snapping his fingers in front of his brother's face to bring him back to the present. "I'm not gonna let you risk your reputation just for some girl."

"I think he already HAS that reputation," Kevin pointed out helpfully.

Before Nick could defend himself, Stella's voice carried down the hallway: "Oh, hey, VanDyke."

"Hey, Stella," VanDyke said, smiling his goofy athlete smile. "So I don't know if you've heard, but I'm running for Student Council President. And since you're smart and stuff, I thought maybe you could be my campaign manager."

Stella smiled at the compliment. "Aw, thanks, VanDyke. I'd love to--"

"But she can't!" Joe was suddenly at Stella's side, finishing her sentence for her.

"She can't?" "I can't?!" Both VanDyke and Stella wanted an explanation.

"No she can't," Joe repeated as his brothers walked over. "Becauzzzzzzzzzzz...," Joe tried to make the word last as long as possible as he frantically searched for a decent explanation, looking to his brothers for help. Kevin, however, had an eager look of curiosity on his face, clearly not aware that Joe HAD no explanation. And while Nick merely stood there blinking stoically, Joe noticed the corners of his brother's mouth were ever so slightly raised, indicating Nick was highly amused at seeing Joe in this predicament and had no intention of helping him out.

Joe started to sweat as he realized Stella was tapping her foot impatiently, so he burst out the first thing that came to mind:

"Because Stella is already MY campaign manager!"

- - -

"So what's your platform?" Stella had her notebook out on the lunch table, ready to take notes.

"Platform?" Joe looked confused. "Nick's usually the one on the platform. It makes him taller so the audience can see him sitting at the drums behind us."

Stella rolled her eyes. "I MEAN your 'campaign' platform. As your campaign manager, I need to know what you're planning to do as Student Council President. You know, WHY you're running."

"Yeah, Joe, why ARE you running?" The corners of Nick's mouth were twitching with amusement again, infuriating Joe.

"Hey, Nick, this is a PRIVATE campaign meeting," Joe complained.

"In the middle of the lunchroom," Nick calmly pointed out.

"C'mon, Joe, let's just concentrate," Stella encouraged. "This afternoon, why don't you make a list of all the things you want to do as President..."

"Fly in Air Force One!" Joe burst out excitedly.

"STUDENT COUNCIL President," Stella clarified. "In the meantime, let's start working on your campaign slogan. It needs to be simple, catchy, something everyone can remember."

"Sloppy Joe!" Kevin said as he set down his lunch tray next to his brothers.

"Yeah, that's a good one," Joe said enthusiastically . "It's simple, catchy, easy to remember. 'Sloppy Joe'," he said, miming an imaginary sign with the slogan across it.

"Sloppy JOES," Nick explained, pointing to Kevin's tray. "It's not a campaign slogan – it's what's for lunch."

Stella shook her head. "And a slogan shouldn't really point out the FLAWS of the candidate," she explained, pointing to the chocolate pudding Joe had spillt on his shirt. "A slogan should remind people of the candidate's accomplishments."

Nick nodded. "'Tippecanoe and Tyler, too' – now THAT was a great campaign slogan."

Joe looked devastated. "Tyler Shipman is running for Student Council President, too?!"

"Not Tyler Shipman," Stella said, shaking her head. "John Tyler – he was William Henry Harrison's vice presidential candidate."

"So why would he need to tip over a canoe?" Kevin asked, very confused.

Nick sighed in frustration. "Harrison was a hero at the BATTLE of Tippecanoe back in 1811. So the campaign slogan reminded everyone that he was a hero." Nick realized his brothers were staring back at him blankly. "Don't either of you EVER pay attention in history class?"

"No," Joe and Kevin answered in unison.

Stella shook her head. "But Nick's right. We need a campaign slogan that will remind people what you're good at." She considered this for a moment before asking, "So what exactly ARE you good at, Joe?"

Joe shrugged. "I'm hot."

Kevin nodded in agreement. "He's right – he IS hot."

Nick shook his head. "But how is THAT gonna win you an election? Remember, not all the voters are girls – half the student body is male."

"Some males find me hot," Joe insisted.

"Yeah, LOTS do," Kevin added. "The guys in Drama Club and Glee Club and the entire wrestling team – they ALL think Joe's hot."

"They do?" Joe smiled smugly.

Nick rolled his eyes. "This isn't a beauty pageant, Joe. This is a Student Council campaign."

Stella nodded. "And I know just the thing."

- - -

Macy sighed happily as she looked at the campaign posters adorning the hallway. Next to Nick's simple poster now hung a giant photo of Joe pointing straight out, framed by the words:

"Joe wants YOU

to vote for SC Prez!"

As the oldest Lucas brother started to walk by, Macy hurried to catch up to him.

"Kevin, Kevin, Kevin," she called. When Kevin stopped and turned to her, she continued, "I hear through the grapevine that both Nick and Joe are running for Student Council President."

Kevin nodded. "We must listen to the same grapes."

"Uh, yeah," Macy said, confused, before going on. "But as president of the JONAS fan club, this is absolutely unacceptable!"

Kevin looked surprised. "The fans don't want them to run?"

Macy shook her head. "No, the fans don't want only PART of JONAS to run! Just think how devastated one-third of the fans are gonna be when they find out they can't vote for their favorite JONAS."

Kevin smiled proudly. "One-third of the fans have me as their favorite?"

Macy looked embarrassed. "Well, maybe not an ENTIRE third. But whatever – at least one tenth of the fans will be devastated."

Kevin shrugged. "But what can I do? I don't know anything about Student Council, let alone running a campaign."

"Me neither!" Macy said excitedly. "But I'd totally love to be your campaign manager, if you're willing."

"Sure, why not?"

"Great!" Macy hurried off down the hall, calling back, "I'll get the news out on the JONAS website right away – the fans are gonna be so psyched!!"

- - -

TO BE CONTINUED


	2. Chapter 2

Hey Mr. President

A JONAS fanfic by phoebenpiper

- - -

PART TWO

The next day saw the hallways of Horace Mantis Academy slowly becoming wallpapered with campaign posters for the three Lucas brothers. At first the posters were positive and creative, hosting such clever slogans as "I Pick Nick", "Go, Joe!", and "Kevin is Heaven".

But by midday Thursday, the campaign had started to turn negative as the once pristine campaign posters became defaced with drawings in black marker. Now Nick was "Picking" his nose, Joe was "Going" to the bathroom, and Kevin would never make it into "heaven" with his devil horns and tail.

By the end of the day, ugliness reigned as all semblance of running a fair campaign had fallen by the wayside. The new slogans were direct attacks on their opponents, including "Ick! Not Nick!", "Overthrow Joe!", and "Kevin stinks to high heaven!" There were also incriminating photos that only brothers had access to, and one poster even showed the boys' report cards, contrasting Nick's straight A's with Kevin's D in American Government and Joe's C in Civics with the simple phrase, "I'm just saying!"

It was this last poster that was the final straw for Joe, and he confronted Nick with it at his locker after school. "Posting my report card? SO not cool, dude!" he said, shoving it angrily under his brother's nose.

Nick closed his locker partway so he could rip down the photo that had been taped there. "Photos of me at age five?" he said, shoving the photo of himself crying and sucking his thumb back in Joe's face. "Ditto!"

Joe looked at the photo and laughed. "Hey, that's a good one. Look at the snot coming out of your nose!"

Nick yanked the photo back and crumpled it angrily as Kevin walked up.

"Hey, that was my best poster," Kevin complained.

"YOU did this?" Nick asked, gesturing to the ball of paper now in his hand.

Kevin nodded, smiling smugly. "You know, there are certain advantages to being the oldest, and hoarding bad photos of you two for later blackmail is one of them."

"Oh, yeah," Joe said, giving his older brother a congratulatory high-five.

"This is getting completely out of hand," Nick said. "You two didn't even WANT to run for Student Council."

"Well, YOU'RE only running to impress some girl," Joe said defensively.

"So are YOU," Nick shot back.

"Hey! Stella is not just 'some girl'."

Nick and Kevin looked at Joe meaningfully, making him realize what he'd just said. "Uh...what I mean is...Stella's my campaign manager. She's not a 'girl'."

"Thanks a lot, Joe," Stella said, walking up.

Joe's face turned red as he turned to his friend, explaining, "I mean, of COURSE you're a girl, Stella. Just...look at you. You clearly obsess about your appearance..."

"As do you," Nick calmly pointed out.

"...and you spend hours every day on your hair..."

"As do you," Nick repeated.

"...and you...you...." Joe was staring nervously at Stella's chest, not wanting to go there but getting desperate.

"You carry a purse!" Kevin eagerly interjected.

Joe breathed a sigh of relief, thankful for having been rescued. Nick and Stella breathed easier, too, grateful that Joe hadn't gone there.

But apparently Kevin didn't notice their reactions because he added helpfully, "And you wear a bra!"

"Kevin!" his brothers scolded simultaneously.

"What?! You can see it right there."

Stella gasped and quickly adjusted her school uniform to hide her bra strap, obviously embarrassed.

Nick shook his head. "Well, now that we've established that Stella's a girl and Kevin can see London and France, can we get back to discussing the campaign?"

"Yes, let's," Stella said, pulling a large folded sign from her purse. "I just made you a new poster, Joe."

She started to unfold the poster, revealing the slogan:

"Joe rules!

Kevin drools!..."

"I do not," Kevin said, self-consciously wiping his mouth.

"Ooh, that's politically damning," Nick said sarcastically.

Stella unfolded the rest of the poster to reveal the last line:

"Nick's a tool."

Kevin laughed. "I love your drawing of Nick as a screwdriver! It's perfect!"

"No, it's ridiculous!" Nick said, clearly frustrated. "This isn't a campaign – it's a farce."

"Not true," Macy said, walking up. "The fans are really into this whole election. According to the JONAS website, the numbers are close, with Nick and Kevin practically tied and Joe slightly ahead in the polls."

"Yes!" Joe said, pulling a victory fist.

Nick shook his head. "That's just the fans. THEY don't vote in this election."

"Oh but they do," Macy said proudly. "I've set up a link so the fans can order absentee ballots on-line. This election is going to have the biggest voter turn-out in Horace Mantis Academy history."

"There's no such thing as 'absentee ballots' for a Student Council election," Nick insisted.

"Ah, you're just mad because you're losing in the polls," Stella teased, and she and Joe shared a high five.

"No I'm not!" Nick said a little too defensively. "This election is for STUDENT Council. Only STUDENTS are supposed to vote."

"That's okay," Macy said, "because most of the fans ARE students...except for that group of Twi-Moms in Utah who find Nick's brooding sexy."

Kevin objectively observed his younger brother. "Yeah, Nick does have that Edward Cullen tragically pained look down."

"Hey! _I_ can brood, too, you know," Joe said, pulling an exaggeratedly serious face.

Nick looked ready to explode. "The fans aren't voting!" he insisted. "And despite the smear campaigns, the rest of the students are going to be able to tell who the serious candidate is at tomorrow's assembly."

"Ooh, an assembly!" Kevin said, excited to get out of class. "For what?"

"The ELECTION assembly?" Nick noticed that the name didn't ring any bells for either his brothers or their campaign managers, so he explained in a condescending tone: "It's where each of the candidates gives a speech about why they're running. Which is then immediately followed by the voting."

"A speech?" Kevin asked, gulping nervously.

"In front of the entire student body?" Joe asked, starting to hyperventilate.

Nick smiled. "Glad to see you're both so prepared. See you at home." Nick closed his locker door and walked away, leaving the rest of them to soak in his words.

- - -

When Kevin finally got home that evening, Nick was lounging in his pajamas in his floor bed, casually strumming away on his guitar, while Joe and Stella sat together at a table, working.

"Where've you been?" Nick asked, looking up from his guitar.

"Hanging with my Pep Squad buddies," Kevin replied, gesturing vaguely with his giant megaphone. "You know, it's times like this that it pays to have friends IN LOUD PLACES!"

"Didn't your mother say 'No megaphone in the house'?!" Stella asked irritably as she, Nick, and Joe removed their hands from their ringing ears.

"Oh, hey, Stella," Kevin greeted. "What are YOU doing here so late?"

"Helping me with my speech," Joe explained.

"You mean writing your speech for you," Nick corrected.

Joe glared at his younger brother as Kevin, too, turned towards Nick.

"Hey, where's Jessie?" Kevin asked, noticing Nick was alone. "Shouldn't she be helping you with your speech?"

"She's...uh...no longer my campaign manager," Nick reluctantly explained.

Kevin was surprised. "What happened?"

"She found out _**I**_ was running," Joe bragged.

Before Nick could reply, Frankie suddenly appeared in the doorway. "Good. You're all here."

"Hey, Frankie," Kevin greeted.

"Shouldn't you be in bed?" Nick asked.

"I've been up working on a school project," Frankie said. "On Presidential elections." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "I'm now an expert at voter irregularities, hanging chads, and the Florida Supreme Court." He paused again, letting his words sink in. "I'm now capable of fixing ANY election." He looked each brother in the eye meaningfully before adding pointedly, "I'll be in my room...if anyone NEEDS me." He gave an exaggerated wink and then turned to go.

"Sit down!" Stella scolded Joe, and he reluctantly obeyed, looking disappointed.

"Oh, hey, Frankie," Mr. Lucas greeted as he passed his youngest son in the hall. "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"Nope," Frankie replied matter-of-factly as his passed. Mr. Lucas shrugged, never knowing quite how to react to the 8-year-old, before continuing into the boys' room.

"Hey, guys," he greeted. "I know tomorrow's a big day for all of you, and your mother and I just wanted you to know how proud we are that you're all taking such an interest in student government." He smiled proudly as he added, "You know, I was president of my Glee Club back in high school. Anyone curious to know what my campaign slogan was?" He looked eagerly from one son to the next for an answer. "Anyone? It was a pretty good slogan, I gotta say. You interested in hearing it? Anyone?"

"Yes, Dad," Nick said in a monotone, reluctantly giving in. "Please tell us your campaign slogan."

Mr. Lucas looked pleased. "It was 'Tom's the Bomb'. Pretty good, huh?"

"That's great, Dad," Nick said with little emotion.

"Yep. 'Tom's the Bomb'," he repeatedly proudly. "With a slogan like that, obviously the election was no contest." Mr. Lucas's proud smile faded as he added, "Literally. No contest. No one else was interested in being president of the Glee Club, so I was the only candidate. I won by a landslide...but it wasn't unanimous. Harvey Beckinweave decided a write-in campaign for Kermit the Frog would be--"

"That's great, Dad," Nick said, cutting him off. "You know, it's late, and we really need to get to bed now."

"Oh yes, of course," Mr. Lucas said, nodding. "Don't let me interrupt your bedtime. You guys want to be in shipshape for tomorrow's election. You know, the night before MY election--"

"GoodNIGHT, Dad," Nick said pointedly.

"Oh. Yeah. Goodnight."

Joe and Kevin also wished their father a "goodnight" before he disappeared.

Once he was gone, Stella turned back to the paper in front of her and Joe. "Now we need to get back to your speech."

"NOW we need to go to bed," Nick said, placing his guitar up on the floor above his bed.

"But Stella's not finished writing my speech yet," Joe whined.

"And I still have to put away my cheerleading uniform," Kevin complained.

"You heard Dad," Nick said, "We've gotta be in shipshape for tomorrow." And with that, Nick grabbed the remote and turned off the lights, leaving his brothers and Stella to grumble in the dark.

- - -

TO BE CONTINUED


	3. Chapter 3

Hey Mr. President

A JONAS fanfic by phoebenpiper

- - -

PART THREE

"P – R – E – Z – K – E – V!  
Kevin! Kevin! O – M – G!  
Gooooooooooooo, Kevin!"

As Kevin reached the top of the pyramid of cheerleaders, he raised his megaphone and yelled, "Vote for Kevin!"

There was a smattering of applause throughout the gym as the Pep Squad dismantled their pyramid, kicking and yelling on Kevin's behalf before sitting back down. From her spot in the bleachers, Macy gave Kevin an enthusiastic thumbs-up, which he returned with a pleased grin before taking his seat with the other candidates.

"Thank you, Mr. Lucas," Vice Principal Metzler said as he returned to the microphone. "For our next speaker we have sophomore candidate Nicholas Lucas."

As Metzler sat down, Nick stood up and walked to the microphone, carrying his guitar. "Good afternoon, my fellow students. Instead of a speech, I wrote a little song I like to call 'S.O.S. (Election Remix)'. I hope you enjoy it."

Nick began to play the familiar chords as he sang:

"Ooh, this is an S.O.S.  
Don't want the second best,  
Check on the bottom line.  
It's true I'll give my all for you,  
So don't pick those two  
'Cuz I'm better than them by half.  
It's like I'm smarter than the senior class,  
better believe I'm best.  
After all, I'm better dressed."

"Thank you," Nick said, acknowledging the enthusiastic applause with a smug smile before sitting back down, ignoring the glares from his brothers.

"Thank you, Mr. Lucas," Vice Principal Metzler said, clearly not amused by Nick's musical speech. "Next up we have a candidate from the junior class, Joseph Lucas."

Joe simply sat in his chair, staring out at the crowd in the bleachers and gulping nervously.

Stella put her hand on Joe's shoulder and gently nudged him. "C'mon, Joe," she whispered. "It's your turn."

Joe took a deep breath before reluctantly standing up and making his way to the microphone. Once there, he awkwardly shuffled the index cards Stella had prepared for him before clearing his throat and starting to read in a monotone: "'My fellow students ask not what your Student Council can do for you ask what you point at the audience can do for...'huh?" Joe stared nervously at the cards, taking a moment to understand. "Oh, I get it. 'Ask not what your Student Council can do for you; ask what YOU,'" this time Joe correctly pointed at the audience instead of saying Stella's stage directions aloud, "'can do for your Student Council.'"

Joe smiled, pleased that he'd made it through the entire first sentence. Unfortunately, in doing so, he looked up, and, seeing the audience, froze, overcome once again by stage fright.

After several minutes of Joe simply standing there in silence, Stella couldn't just sit there any longer. She hurried to Joe's side, whispering, "What is your problem?"

"I can't do this. There's too many people watching."

"Joe, you perform in front of tens of thousands of screaming girls all the time."

"But that's SINGING! This is talking."

"But don't you talk during your concerts?"

Joe shrugged. "Well, sure, in between songs. But...."

"But nothing. Nick just sang. For all you know, Van Dyke is going to sing. I certainly hope not, since he's completely tone-deaf, but you never know. So just pretend that you're on stage, talking to the audience. Imagine," she said, gesturing to the collection of students on the bleachers, "that these are all screaming fans, and they love you."

Stella looked out at the audience at her best friend, signaling her with her eyes. Macy knew just want to do – she stood and yelled, "I love you, Joe." Then, seeing Kevin's disappointed face, Macy added, "And you, too, Kevin. Go, JONAS!" She waved her arms like a crazed fan, which came naturally to her since she WAS a crazed fan, as she tried to make Joe feel more at home.

"See?" Stella said. "It's just like a concert." She grabbed Joe's hand, which still held the index cards, and raised it up so he could see them. "Now simply read the speech I wrote, and NOT the stage directions, and you'll be fine."

Stella started to walk away, but Joe called her back. "But Stella, it's NOT like a concert! Kevin should be over there, and Nick should be behind me."

Stella sighed with frustration. She turned to the Vice Principal and asked, "Mr. Metzler, may Joe have permission to move some things around?"

Metzler did not look amused, but he answered, "If it'll get him to finish quicker, go ahead."

Stella turned, gave Joe a reassuring pat on the shoulder, and then returned to her seat as Joe went about setting up the stage properly. First he walked over to his younger brother and took away his guitar; taking it over to Kevin before moving his older brother into the position where he would normally stand during a performance. Joe then ran over to Stella, who removed the chopsticks from the bun in her hair and handed them to him. Joe took the chopsticks over to Nick, handed them to his brother as if they were drumsticks, and then made his little brother stand so he could move Nick's chair back to an imaginary drum set. Nick, like the Vice Principal, was clearly not amused, but he sat down all the same and raised the chopsticks as if he were about to start drumming.

Joe returned to the microphone, glancing to his left and behind him as if he were checking with his bandmates, before returning to his speech, which now flowed easily out of him like concert banter.

"My fellow students," Joe said, taking the mic off the stand and confidently striding across the gym. "Ask not what Student Council can do for you; ask what YOU can do for Student Council. 'But what can I do?' you may ask. Well, first of all, you can vote for the best Student Council president: me. Because I, Joe Lucas, care about Horace Mantis Academy...'"

- - -

"...Four score and seven years ago, our forefathers built this school," Joe continued with his enthusiastic speech. "And today, you're being giving a choice. Choose progress. Choose hope. Choose me! Because together, we can make a difference. Yes we can!"

Joe grinned, pleased with himself that he'd made it through Stella's entire speech without any more stage fright, despite Nick's attempts to distract him by periodically punctuating his speech with a sarcastic rimshot on the metal folding chair.

As the audience applauded, and Macy yelled out, "We love you, Joe!" like a good fan, Joe returned to Stella's side. She gave him a quick congratulatory hug, which almost immediately turned awkward when they realized they were actually touching each other, so they finished with a reluctant handshake instead.

As Metzler returned to the microphone, he gave a long sigh before noticing that Kevin was still standing nearby holding Nick's guitar, bowing to the audience. "You may sit down now, Mr. Lucas."

"Oh, right!" Kevin said, realizing he was no longer needed to help his brother and quickly sat down.

"All right, students," Metzler continued. "FINALLY, we have our last presidential candidate: Van Dyke Tosh."

As Van Dyke stood, the gym grew silent with anticipation. So far they'd witnessed a cheerleading routine, a song, and a rousing speech with more political metaphors than CNN's _The Situation Room_, so they were eager to see what was in store for them next.

Van Dyke reached the microphone and smiled his goofy athlete grin. "As you know, I'm Van Dyke Tosh." He paused for a moment before simply stating, "And I am NOT a Lucas brother."

That was it. That was his entire speech. But all the backstabbing and name-calling and political shenanigans the student body had had to endure over the past few days from the three Lucas brothers had obviously taken their toll, for the entire crowd jumped to their feet, giving Van Dyke a standing ovation.

As the cheering continued, the three Lucas brothers looked at each other, dejectedly realizing who the final winner of the vote was going to be.

- - -

"This is a travesty!" Macy declared as she gathered with the Lucas brothers and Stella at their lockers after school. "I can't believe that all three of you lost! The fans demand a recount."

"Speak to Frankie," Nick said dryly. "It sounds like he's an expert."

"But it's not a mistake, Macy," Stella said, clearly upset with herself. "WE'RE the mistake. We all got so focused on winning that we forgot what was important, why we were really doing this."

"To get girls?" Kevin asked.

"No," Stella answered.

"To annoy Nick?" Joe asked.

"No!" Stella was getting annoyed.

Nick shut his locker door before saying matter-of-factly, "To make Horace Mantis Academy a better place."

"Yes," Stella said, pleased that at least ONE brother knew the correct answer. "And instead, we made things worse. Just look around this place. The halls are filled with posters of you guys saying TERRIBLE things about each other. That's not what brothers do. Brothers should support each other, not try to tear each down and humiliate them."

Macy nodded, pulling down a poster from Joe's locker. "Yeah, like how humiliating is this? A photo of young Joe naked in a bathtub with his rubber duckies."

"Let me see that!" Stella said, yanking the photo away from Macy.

"Hey!" Macy said, grabbing it back. "I saw it first."

Stella stole it again. "But Joe was MY candidate."

Macy ripped it out of her best friend's hands, leaving only a small corner of it behind in Stella's fingers. "But I need to post it on the fan website. After all, JONAS may have lost the election, I'm still president of their fan club."

And with that, Macy ran off down the hall, with Stella running after her yelling, "I want the original after you've scanned it!"

With the girls gone, the three brothers looked at each other.

"We're sorry you ruined your chances, Nick," Kevin said, putting a comforting hand on Nick's shoulder. "We know how much this meant to you."

"And how much JESSIE meant to you," Joe said, putting his hand on Nick's other shoulder. "I'm sorry I stole her away. You know, she obviously didn't switch campaigns because she thought I'd make a better president -- everyone knows YOU would've." Nick nodded, clearly agreeing with his brother's statement, before Joe finished with, "She obviously just switched campaigns because I'm hotter."

Nick turned and glared.

"And remember, little brother," Kevin said cheerfully, trying to avoid brotherly bloodshed. "No matter what, you'll always be 'Mr. President' to us."

Nick smiled. "And I've got an entire year to write a campaign song for next year's election. You know, I was thinking something along the lines of 'A little bit longer, this school will be fine.'"

Kevin and Joe both laughed and shut their locker doors before the three losing Lucases headed home.

- - -

THE END


End file.
